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wanting to install bt3 or bt4

I have searched high and low for specifics on my laptop. I've used bt3 and love it. Ive tried to install bt3 to my hdd and have failed many time. Now I want to keep trying to install bt3 and just about to give up, but I remember a line from my fav movie. "Thomas Edison tried and failed 1000 time to make the lightbulb work. But only to find 1000 ways on how not to make a lightbulb, but only 1 way to make it work. "

So here goes.

I have bt3 on cd, bt4 on dvd, 1 usb port.

The windows system is windows xp home on a ibm lenovo thinkpad 1300 I series type 1172. The hdd is partioned from 160GB for win at 110, fat32 ext3 at 20GB and swap at 10Gb.

I've used backtrack.kmdr from the usb to install bt3 to the fat32 partition and lilo.config went there as well. rebooted the machine and no dice, booted to xp. NO lilo. What went wrong. Rebooted back into the cd and restarted, cfdisk, and mkreiserfs the fat32 and tried again with the kmdr, lilo configed again and tried again, no luck, still wants to boot into windows xp. So here is the thought, if I restart and format the fat32 and the swap again, make them an ex32 partition, re-install the bt3 and go into the windows mbr (I have the os disk just for safekeeping) and alter the mbr from windows to recognize the lilo boot for linux. Will this work or is it going to be another way not to do this?

As for bt4, I have it on dvd and the iso. Since my xp machine does not have a dvd optic installed, I need another way to do this. I like the look of the startup when I use it on my desktop machine. Nice graphics! I think that all of the commands that I use from bt3 will work the same way on bt4.

But now for the trick. How do I install the bt4 to my machine? I have network access, and the netbootin and is downloadable and useabel to make one to usb but forget it, by machine will not install from a usb because I already checked the BIOS and that option is not there, unless I can alter the mbr record and I will need specific instruction on at least how to do this.

So far, I cannot find a dvd-rw drive for my machine without upgrading to a new computer.

I have however, a seperate hdd (60GB) but that would entail of opening the case and installing and rebooting again. Too much trouble. I have used the bt3 with windows before in a Dell CPI-a with win 2k and works very well. That's why I am back to learn more and to use the more current version of Backtrack.

I want to install something there in the parts to the hdd because the loading of the bt is extremely fast. Using the live cd is ok, but sometimes the system and the memory lags a little when I collect arps and replay.

Any thoughts, questions and helpful input would be greatly appreciated and sorry for this being such a novel.

Re: wanting to install bt3 or bt4

Originally Posted by lex luthor

But now for the trick. How do I install the bt4 to my machine? I have network access, and the netbootin and is downloadable and useabel to make one to usb but forget it, by machine will not install from a usb because I already checked the BIOS and that option is not there, unless I can alter the mbr record and I will need specific instruction on at least how to do this.

Thank you Snayler, I'll give this one a try and I will post the results tonight if it does or does not result in good for my xp machine.

Snayler, tried it and it did not work as of yet. The vmware workstation installed correctly, but it tells me that I need more physical memory than what is there. I have a lenovo ibm thinkpad that has a 256mb ram card and the BIOS only sees 192mb. I have to think of another way or try different methods, maybe they are talking about the hdd drive that is installed since the iso of bt4 is 1.43 Gb? IDK, will try that aproach and tailor it from there. Till then......no light bulb,

Re: wanting to install bt3 or bt4

If you haven't considered it already, I would recommend starting out using one of the Virtual Machine distributions. You'll be able to take snapshots and make as many mistakes as you want without worrying about being "stuck" with the mistakes you make while learning. The other benefit to that approach is that you'll be forced to get familiar with a virtualization solution of your choice. I prefer VMWare myself.

Keep in mind that you won't be able to crack wireless with VMs unless you purchase a USB antenna, but those are fairly inexpensive.

Re: wanting to install bt3 or bt4

Originally Posted by lex luthor

I have a lenovo ibm thinkpad that has a 256mb ram card and the BIOS only sees 192mb. I have to think of another way or try different methods, maybe they are talking about the hdd drive that is installed since the iso of bt4 is 1.43 Gb? IDK, will try that aproach and tailor it from there. Till then......no light bulb,

Look into PXE Booting. Or buy some more ram...

Originally Posted by mnaines

Check out Daemon Tools for Windows XP. That will allow you to mount a .iso image in Windows and use it as a virtual CD or DVD without actually needing a disk in the drive.

That will not help OP's problem at all, since he needs to boot into the DVD in order to install BT4. Daemon Tools will only allow you to use the ISO inside windows.

Re: wanting to install bt3 or bt4

I've tried this method before, and you might want to buy or borrow and external DVD/CD drive. It worked for me before, but I was using Slackware on a friend's laptop. It was the same model as yours, I think. I'll double check and get back to you as soon as I can...